Page 8 of Cage Me

“Pence?” my little brother cries. “Pence, Momma needs you. He won’t stop. I can’t make him stop.”

Peter’s wailing grows louder with every word he forces out, and my heart shatters. Our piece-of-shit father is at it again, but I won’t leave them alone. Not this time.

“Peter, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” I tell him slowly and sternly. “Go to my room and get in the closet. Don’t come out no matter what you hear until I get there, okay?”

“You’re coming home?” His sniffles have tears burning in my eyes, but I don’t let any of them fall.

“Yeah, bub,” I tell him. “But only if you promise to hide, okay?”

I can hear my mother’s screams in the background, and it’s my father’s lack of yelling back that scares me the most.

“Peter, go get in the closet,” I tell him again as I toss my single mattress out of the way and reach for the box that I have buried beneath the floor there. “I’ll come help Momma. I promise. You just stay safe.”

Inside the metal storage bin under my bed, I have all my imbued coins and the different types of potions I’ve been collecting. Digging through my horde, I find the portal spell I need to get from Crossroads back to Fire and Fluorite within seconds instead of the days that it would take me to drive two-thousand-or-so miles through the territories.

“I will,” Peter’s crying voice finally says. “Just hurry.”

“I’m on my way.”

Ending the call, I curse the fates for doing this to my family. For giving my mother an abusive mate and for subjecting my eight-year-old brother to this nightmare. None of it is fair, and I should have killed the bastard when I had the chance. I’ve spent the last three years trying to get them out the right way at my mother’s insistence, but that time ends now.

Reaching for my duffle bag, I shove the metal box inside first and then grab the few bits of clothes that will fit around my most important possessions.

Once I’m done, I glance up at Kasha’s house, tempted to at least tell her I’m leaving, especially after the conversation we just had, but there’s no time. Mom and Peter need me.

I’m about to open the portal spell when I hear soft footfalls, right before a shadow looms over me. “Are you running away from me again?”

Drake’s deep tenor sends shivers down my spine. How could I have forgotten about him? Oh yeah, because my family is all that matters. Not this mate mess.

“I’ll be back,” I tell him, but he doesn’t believe me nor should he. It would have been convenient, though.

His breath warms the back of my neck as he growls. “I don’t appreciate being lied to, either.”

I swallow thickly, not able to find the wit I want to respond with without fear of making a fool of myself. His closeness is messing with my head and causing an unwanted warmth to spread through my body.

“My family needs me,” I plead with him. “Let me go before I have to hurt you.”

Not that I think I could kick his ass fairly, but after hearing how desperate Drake was earlier, I know I could take advantage of that to get away.

“Let me help you.” His reply takes me by surprise.

I turn to face him, a choice I immediately regret when our chests brush against one another, sending a tingle of something I don’t care to identify through my chest. “What?”

“I heard your phone call,” he says. “Your brother said your mother is in trouble. Let me help.”

My eyes glare. “You were spying on me? I thought I set that boundary before. Who’s the liar now?”

“You told me I couldn’t watch you sleep,” he says. “Nothing was mentioned about me staying close.”

Cocky, sneaky fucker.

I want to set new and more specific rules, but I don’t have time for this. “You can follow me, but stay the hell out of my way.” My words are laced with a snarl, half because telling Drake to come eases some of my tension and half because of how much time I’ve now let pass.

Without wasting another second, I open the portal spell and throw the vial onto the ground. Dark blue smoke rises from the earth, and a rip in the air begins to form, growing into a swirling vortex of dark purple and silver colors until it’s big enough to step through.

“What’s on the other side of that?” Drake asks, but I don’t have time to explain. He’ll just have to find out for himself.

“Grab on to me if you really want to know.” With my intentions set on the woods behind my house, I walk through and allow the magic of the portal to consume my body. At the last second, strong fingers wrap around my right shoulder and Drake’s energy melds with mine.

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